2015 First dice rolling of the year!

I had a fun game this Saturday with Jonathan Rogers and Simon Moules.  Had to get the gas heater on in the garage because of the cold but we managed to stay warm enough to roll dice and push models around. The Pizza break also helped with the cold. 

The Gruntz 15mm SCI-FI game was played on my small 3x3ft terrain table which I normally take to shows as a demo table. If we are not using many vehicles it is a good size, however for a larger game I prefer the 6x4ft size to give armour and grav skimmer type vehicles more room for manoeuvre. 

I had my older East Hyadum Trade forces (Futuristic East India Company troops) and Jon had his mostly Khuransan miniatures Neo-Sov force. 

On around turn 3 I appeared to have the advantage but lost my APC after I had loaded it with my droid unit. It suffered a catastrophic engine failure when destroyed and the Droids perished with it. At that point I resorted to mostly just pounding Jon's NeoSov forces with my mortar from a distance and indirectly. It was a bloody game and I think ultimately that the East Hydadum forces held the ground before the NeoSov's withdrew.  I was successful in holding up his main powered armour unit by suppressing them each round which really slowed their progress. 

Here we are setting up with Jon checking his mobile.

These did not come into play but Jon wanted to show his work in progress on his Grav Skimmers from Antenocitis workshop. He has made various kit bash modifications to the turrets. 

This is my East Hyadum Trade force.  A High Energy Laser specialist, a Mortar an a mix of Gruntz squads all from Ground Zero Games (GZG.COM)

Jon's nearly finished Neo-Sov troops and walker (GZG Crustie Walker).

The full 3x3ft layout aerial view.  Having the stack like hills in place gives even a small board plenty of places for tactical movement. 

An early move got these troops into cover. 

This is a GZG APC which I have modified with a plasma turret and a couple of extra bits.

You can see for speed of play I had 

I wrote Gruntz but I still need to check the rule book! I was reminding myself that a rear shot on my APC was going to get a +2 damage on the damage roll in the rear arc. 

Water vaper blown over the board to give it a smoke filled look for the photo.  Jons Khurasan Power armour troops are modified by using a robotic style head. 

In the distance you can see my shielded Spider droids held the line with their force shields in position. 

One of the Spider Droids shields has been over powered. 

Making use of the shielding provided by the Droids giving the troops an added screen. 

My GZG skimmer grav bikes were able to put pressure on troops quickly with their fast movement but they were a little fragile and were soon wiped out. 

Cards placed for Card activation using the Gruntz activation cards which can be bought on Wargames Vault It added a chaotic feel with random activation of units between players. 

Shields Up! 

Robotic assets. 

Activation cards on the dropship launch pad.

Full Thrust New Anglian vs Federal Stats Europa (British Vs French).

I had a fun game of Full Thrust from GZG at the local club on Friday.  I am still amazed at how satisfying it is to play Full Thrust, after many years my old fleet still feels fresh to play and involves some in depth tactical play. Sadly my great tactical ineptitude kicked in and I moved my missile firing vessels in far to closely which, presenting big easy targets for the NAC.  I had the FSE (Federal Stats Europa) fleet with some additional models from Zandris IV and Ninja Magic.  I simply did not have enough in FSE models to be able to match Steve's "New Anglian Confederation" (NAC) fleet so I had to drag out some additional models from my collection.  

For those interested, the game Gruntz was influenced by Full Thrust and the damage tracks and critical process was an inspiration for how I built the damage system in Gruntz. 

On my left flank I sent in a group of four Sub-Munition pack Hydra Class Destroyers which I had stated up as larger ships than the model would normally dictate. This was not really fair on Steve because he thought they were smaller vessels than I was representing with the small models. However I had limited models to use so they were the only thing close to size I could use.  It is worth discussing sizes with your opponent to avoid a surprise when a tiny approaching ship is actually supposed to be a carrier! 

Here is the Hydra class (represented by the small green group of 4 ships on the top left of the above photo).  Image from the http://fullthrust.star-ranger.com/FSEstats.htm web site where I pull most of my stats from for the game.  I drop them into a doc and print them. 

You can see the three submunition packs on the ship design (circle with black filled triangle on top). They are powerful one use only weapons, best used at a range of under 6" for the most devastating close range damage.  After using the one shot submunition packs,  the ships then fall back to using just beam weapons which are the circles with a two Class1 and one Class2 in the front arc only. Class1 beam weapons are the weakest with a range limit of 12". Class2 have 24" range. 

Early game my main FSE fleet splits. The moon and planet models provide a block to line of sight and I decide to split my forces. This is a mistake in the end round or two because I simply can't bring them to bear against the NAC fleet because they are too far from the main battle. 

Zandris IV models in the foreground. GZG FSE fleet (old style) in the background. 

Ninja Magic ships. This model in the foreground was my main flagship for my fleet. You can see the small fighter launch bay along the edge of the ship.  I used the following Littorio Class Battledreadnought statistic card to represent it. You can see the single triangle which represents one flight of onboard fighters which I can launch.  The image in the top centre are two missile launchers and the attached magazine of single use missiles.  The FSE fleet is very missile heavy, tending to be lighter armoured than the British New Anglian Confederation and better at longer range with missile launchers. Something I forgot for this game and got in too close! 

Steve's New Anglian Confed (NAC) fleet. These are from the earlier sculpt range from GZG. 

I used the yellow counters to note when a ship had fired each round. 

You can see my Lego Planet in use next to a sphere. These stone spheres are from a crystal shop on the Isle of Wight. The polished stone looks very moon like and you will find many of these stone orbs available on new age crystal web sites or ebay. These ones only cost me about £3 each and make easy drop on terrain. 

My single fighter group is launched from my main dreadnought. Fighters can move 12" a turn in any direction. 

Close up on my older FSE fleet. 

FSE heavies again. These earlier models from GZG tend to be smaller than the more recent re-sculpts on the GZG site. I must admit the newer ships do look nicer and I need to start investing in some of the new models again. 

Battletech Riever

This last week I completed some models for Ral Partha Europe.  They are a selection of Battletech Aerotech aircraft including the Riever and Slayer miniatures. I really like them and although they are a little over-sized for normal 6mm scale they work for me and I would be happy playing them in a mech game.

I was trying to simulate a veteran level of wear and tear on these Battletech aerospace vehicles from continued atmospheric re-entry. A long tour of duty has taken its toll on the heat resistant fuselage.  I gave the cockpits a very subtle jewel look along the bottom edge but kept the majority of the canopy matt black.   This was intended to make it look like the glow was from within the canopy, rather than an external reflection.   I also added tiny white dots using thinned white paint to make it look like instruments lights shining through the canopy.  I am happy for a first attempt using a different cockpit style with more of a glow than a jewel.

You can see what paints I used and more detail on the paint jobs in the youtube video link below.

Battletech Riever Miniature 

Video overview here: 

Video from the Vallhala

Valhalla in Farnborough was a great show for Gruntz.  It was busy enough for us to get a few games in but not overcrowded like a Salute where at the end of the day I am ragged and have lost my voice!

So I certainly hope to attend again next year.

This is a video of the Gruntz game layout which we played through at the show.  Thanks to those that took the time to participate in a game. As usual the shielded Spider Droids were great fun to play and I also had some fun using the Protolene models from Critical Mass Games.




Here is a Star Wars terrain layout for the X-Wing board game.  This was another game played as a participation like Gruntz at the Valhalla show.  They have built a great little layout,  made various resin pieces to represent the Death Star with a trench system.  It certainly adds some atmosphere to the X-wing game.

Gruntz at SELWG Convention.

Gruntz is at the SELWG (South East London Wargames Group) convention on Sunday 14th October. The venue is the Crystal Palace Sports ground. More details of traders etc on their web site: http://www.selwg.org/selwg-2012/  There is the usual great range of traders, bring and buy and show games on the day.

SELWG is a classic show, with a great history and always plenty of good terrain layouts and traders to visit. It was one of the shows in the 90's that gave me a major bug for attending gaming conventions. I somehow always manage to find a bargain on the bring and buy and the mix of traders makes it worth attending.

I will be up on the Balcony area which is along from where you walk in.  Jon at Ground Zero Games (GZG) will be trading at the show and will be providing some mini-give-aways and winners gifts for people that join in and have a game of Gruntz.

I will only have the one small gaming table and will run games as and when people approach me and will also find time to chat about Gruntz and discuss painting etc whilst there.  It is unlikely that my printed copies of the latest 1.1 rules will be printed in time for the event, however you will be able to try the new rules because I will have some printed guides and some pre-built armies ready to roll.

I will also be attending the Warfare Reading show later in November and hope to take some printed copies of the rules on the Saturday which will be sold via a trader(s).

This is probably the terrain layout I will take with me, so it will be a small table but great for getting straight into a game.

Even if you are not a Gruntz player, please come over and say hello!

Weekend Gruntz Edit

Lots of editing of the Gruntz rules this weekend and a session of playtesting and photography.  I also seem to have caught a cold or similar which is not great during this sunny spell.

My Sky broadband is broken with only periodic access and I discovered a fault on the line but they won't come out to check unless you agree to a potential £120 visit plus £60 per hour charge.  The fault is so bad that you can even hear the crackle whilst on the phone. So I ceased my Sky broadband and talk and switched back to BT who actually have field engineers that will come and check for problems without the big fee. It took sky about 90minutes on the phone before they agreed that I had tried everything possible with switching filters and new cables/routers.  They actually thought it was my cross over cable between my PC and the router?!!!?*** How can that make a phone line crackle so badly that you can't hear people when you call them?

Sky only mention the £180 visit fee after trying everything else remotely. I would simply suggest to any UK followers of this blog - avoid sky broadband at all costs, it is a great service until something goes wrong and they can't support it. Life without reliable broadband is rough.

I was taking lots of photos of a mix of games this weekend but I can't share all of the photos because they are going into the Gruntz rules and I need a few surprises in the final release.

15mm Iron Wind Metals Mech photo with GZG models.

Robin in the Garage during a Gruntz 15mm SCI-FI game and photo shoot.

Hammerhead Participation Game

I am back on the road this year with the Gruntz participation game. The first show this year is Hammerhead near Newark on February 13th.

If you are in the area, pop over for a chat and join the game if you can.  I will be near the GZG stand. Participating players will be given some freebie goodies in the form of 15mm miniature packs.

Both GZG and Critical Mass Games are at the show, so plenty of 15mm shopping to be done!

The Date,
Sunday February 13th 2011.
The Venue,
Kelham Hall, Kelham, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG23 5QX

Details here: http://www.hammerhead.org.uk/hammerhead2011.html